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Jimmy Carter leaves North Korea with freed US man

Former US president Jimmy Carter left North Korea Friday after achieving the release of a US man who had been imprisoned there, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Carter flew to Pyongyang Wednesday to lobby for the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, who was arrested in January and sentenced to eight years for illegally entering North Korea from China, dpa reported.

Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize after he served as president, left North Korea accompanied by Gomes, who was released in a humanitarian gesture by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, said the Carter Center, a Carter-founded non-governmental organization, which works on human rights issues.

Carter's visit followed a similar one a year ago by another former US president, Bill Clinton, who secured the release of two journalists, who had also been sentenced to forced labour for illegal entry into North Korea.